


Prologue – Assembling the Pieces

by Natsu (Natsuwu)



Series: Volume 6.5 - The Mountain that I Must Climb [1]
Category: Hyouka & Kotenbu Series
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 10:13:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18990601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natsuwu/pseuds/Natsu
Summary: During summer holidays of their second year at Kamiyama High, Fukube plans a Classics Club trip to an amusement park, with the addition of Oohinata Tomoko, the Classics Club's former provisional member. His intentions: Having the first year girl join the club after all, having her become friends with Chitanda and helping her overcome her worries!Spoilers for light novels 5 and 6 ahead!





	Prologue – Assembling the Pieces

**Prologue-1 – A** **Summer Day**

I never understood what it meant to be lucky. After all, I had never won the lottery or accomplished anything that would require you to overcome unsurmountable odds. Would someone that just survived an accident feel lucky or would they curse at their misfortune?

On this warm summer day, in my own way of leading an energy-conserving life, I almost felt lucky to have nothing to do. No one was pestering me to do anything since my sister had already left home after just a couple of days of doing laundry for her next trip and my dad was on a work trip like so many other times during the past few summer holidays. So I took the freedom to wake up late – or rather whenever I felt like it.

I made my way over to the kitchen to check how much food was still left before I had to go out and get some groceries by myself. Luckily my dad always left me a generous amount of money to spend on food and other necessities, but it was more of a minor inconvenience to actually go outside and spend it. Especially inconvenient if it was a hot day in the early weeks of my summer holidays. Much to my dismay, I didn't find too much food in the fridge and we were almost out of anything that I could make in a couple of minutes, like some soba for example. This meant I absolutely had to go outside today if I didn't want to starve. I sighed.

Before I was able to reach my room to get properly dressed to go outside, I noticed that there was a message on the answering machine. I picked up the phone and was greeted by Satoshi's cheery voice.

  
"Hey Houtarou! I know you're probably enjoying your time away from me right now, probably doing nothing, but I planned on going to the city today. Do you want to tag along? Not like you have anything to do anyway. Just call me back if you feel like it."

  
Only a person like Satoshi could afford to be this cheeky. He knew that I had no plans so there was no way to get out of this. Lucky guess. I could just lie and tell him that I had some important things to do – like not starving – but I would probably end up just running into him while getting groceries anyway. So I dialed his number.

  
"Yes, Fukube Satoshi speaking. Who is this?"

  
"It's me."

  
"My, Houtarou. What a nice surprise! How come you're calling me?"

  
I frowned. "You know exactly why. You know I have nothing better to do so let's just meet up. I have to get some stuff from the stores anyway."

  
I could hear him clap his hands in excitement. The only problem was that he forgot that he was still holding the phone in his hand, which resulted in a loud smack in my ear.

  
"Oh, wonderful! Let's meet in 15 minutes down at the bridge, alright?"

  
"Sure. See you." I hung up.

  
My ear still slightly ringing, I finally made it to my room and got dressed. I just picked up the first clean shirt and shorts I could find, which wasn't an easy task. That unfortunately reminded me, that I had to do laundry as well. On my way to the front door, I grabbed a bag and the keys and headed out. Since it was a nice day, I decided to take my bike. While that meant that I had to expend energy in the form of exercise, it still meant being outside for a shorter amount of time since it was faster than walking. Satoshi was sure to be on his bike as well. He rarely went out without it – even in winter.

When I arrived at the bridge, Satoshi was already standing there, his bike leaning on the bridge.

  
"Yo." I raised my hand to greet him, not quite sure if he could hear me over the sound of the rushing water below.

  
"Ah, there you are. A bit late, might I add."

  
I glanced at my watch. "No, I'm not. I'm right on time. You were just early."

  
His expression changed to a smug smile. "Sure, let's just say that."

  
"Alright, so what do you want to do?"

  
"Let's just walk into the inner city, for now."

  
I nodded and we started moving. Several cars and motorcycles passed us, all trying to get out of the city to visit any nearby seas or camping spots. The people of Kamiyama were out and about, resulting in the city buzzing with energy and trying to enjoy as much of the summer as they possibly could. I didn't fault them for expending their energy like that. After all, even I had to admit that it was a very nice day. As we made our way into the inner parts of the city where most of the important things like the train station, the library and some cafés were located, the amount of people out on the streets reached an almost exhausting amount. Kamiyama was by no means a small town and you could really see and feel that in this moment.  
As we reached an intersection, we had to stop and wait for a moment for the light to turn green. I took this as an opportunity to finally find out why Satoshi had summoned me here.

  
"So, what's all this about then? Problems with Ibara? You wouldn't summon me out here for no reason after all."

  
Satoshi shook his head. "No, for once we're pretty good. No problems or anything of the sort. I'm really happy with her."

  
"Well, I'm glad to hear that."

  
I noticed his smile turn devious. "I called you because I wanted to make a proposal."

  
"A what now?"

  
"See, my cousin recently started working at this amusement park about an hour away from here. I wanted to invite you."

  
I frowned. "And you couldn't do that over the phone?"

  
"Well, I only told you that tiny bit of my plan so far."

  
We crossed the road and he continued. "You see, I know you probably think I should just go with Mayaka-chan and make it a nice date and I agree, that's probably what I should do. But I have something else in mind. We're in our second year at Kamiyama High now and we don't really have that much time left until club activities cease once we're in the exam season next year. Not that we do many activities anyway, of course. But I want everyone to have a good time, however short it may be.

  
"So, I already got the tickets for the amusement park. I know you were probably going to say yes if I told you that it would just be us, the four members of the Classics Club, going there. But that's not exactly what I had in mind."

  
We stopped for a moment at and pulled into a quieter side alley. Satoshi reached into his backpack and pulled out five tickets. I looked at him for a moment, having figured out what he wanted to do with the fifth one.

  
"You want to invite Oohinata."

  
"No, Houtarou, my dear friend. I want you to invite her. And Chitanda as well, if you could be so kind."

  
He handed me three of the five tickets and I absentmindedly took them. "Why?"

  
"You're closer to both of them than I am. Chitanda is sure to say yes but after what happened, I think it's best for you to ask them and tell them they're both supposed to come along."

  
I realized what he wanted to do. Back during the Hoshigaya Cup – Kamiyama High's marathon – earlier that year, I figured out why Oohinata didn't want to join the Classics Club after having a falling out with Chitanda. That of course wasn't even Chitanda's fault, but she probably still blamed herself and Oohinata definitely had some reason to distance herself, however unfounded her worries might have been.

  
I looked back up to meet Satoshi's excited expression. "You want them both to make amends and then what? Have her join the Classics Club late?"

  
"Ideally, yes, even though our budget has been long decided. I would just like her to be part of our group again. I've seen her during her club's practices lately and it didn't seem like she was fitting in too much. I can't imagine it's much different outside of that."

  
I nodded, finally understanding the true purpose of him saying that he wanted everyone to have a good time.

  
"You're too kind-hearted, you know that?"

  
"Well, as a vice president of the student council, I care about all of the students."

  
I knew that wasn't exactly the reason why he was doing this since I had known him for long enough. He was just like that in everything he did. And a part of me cherished him for it. Satoshi was a good guy and most definitely a good friend.

  
I nodded. "Fine, I'll do it."

  
"That didn't take much convincing from me. I already planned another long speech in my head in advance!"

  
"I know what you're trying to do here and it would be hard for me to disagree. Even if that means expending some energy."

  
I paused to put the tickets in the bag as some wind was coming up and I didn't want to lose them. "Plus, I've heard some good things about this amusement park."

  
Having reached this agreement, we made our way to the store where I picked up the things I needed to make dinner for the next couple of days. Afterwards we returned to the bridge where we had initially met. The sun was starting to set now and the wind had made the heat more bearable than it was during our trip into the city. Some kids were playing near the river bank below, giving the atmosphere of the surroundings a friendly and inviting touch. Of course it was still unbearably warm for someone that barely left the house.

  
"I appreciate you doing this, Houtarou.”

  
“Not that you leave me much choice here, Satoshi.”

  
He smiled. “I just think it's best to keep you on your toes.”

  
With that we parted our ways and I finally returned home to make myself dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thanks for your interest in my first fanfic. This is supposed to be a continuation of the light novel since the author is taking another break from writing the Koten-bu series for a while. I'm trying to emulate the style of the light novels, albeit a bit more modernized. Hope you enjoyed it so far and thank you for any potential feedback!


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